Particle group> Particle Type

The particle type is the building block of Trapcode Particular. By default, the plug-in uses a spherical particle, which coincidentally is called Sphere. Let's take a look at the other particle types.

The full particle type list.

Particle Type

Version 2.0 has added added a new particle type and renamed some existing ones. There are 11 different particle types. The list below gives a basic definition and also points you to some of the best controls to use with that particle type. The following section shows how the particles appear when each of the particle types is applied to the same composition.

| Sphere Basic round particle, chosen by default. Control its softness with Particle> Sphere Feather.
| Glow Sphere Glowing round particle. Control the center sphere softness with Particle> Feather. Control with the Glow group.
| Star Star-shaped particle with glow. Control with the Rotation group and the new Glow group.
| Cloudlet A randomized shape that looks like a small cloud. Control with Particle> Sphere Feather and the Rotation group.
| Streaklet New particle type. A long exposure, light painting effect. Control with the Streaklet group.
| Sprite Use any layer as a particle. Sprite particles' orientation is always locked to the camera. Read more about Custom Particles.
| Sprite Colorize Same as Sprite, but adds the ability to colorize the particles using lightness values from the sprite's layer. Read more about Custom Particles.
| Sprite Fill Same as Sprite, but adds the ability to colorize the particles by filling alpha. Read more about Custom Particles.
| Textured Polygon New particle type. Use any layer as a particle, and give that layer any 3D orientation. Control with the Texture group.
| Textured Polygon Colorize New particle type. Same as Textured Polygon, but adds the ability to colorize the particles using lightness values. Control with the Texture group.
| Textured Polygon Fill New particle type. Same as Textured Polygon, but adds the ability to colorize the particles by filling alpha. Control with the Texture group.

Sphere, Glow Sphere, Star

The Sphere is the default Particle Type option. It is a simple round dot that lends itself well to particle systems, which are often use spherical units. Dust, snow and rain are all common examples of rounded particle systems. Glow Sphere is a glowing version of the sphere shape. Star is a simple four-pointed shape that has a glow applied.

Sphere

Glow Sphere

Star

Cloudlet

A cloudlet is a randomized shape that looks like a small cloud. It looks like smoke when its color is dark gray, and like clouds when its color is white.

Version 1.5 Note: Previous versions of Particular used a particle type called Smokelet. This has been removed. Smokelet and Cloudlet are now the same, and only vary by the color used to create the particle. Older project files (Particular 1.0 or 1.5) that contain Smokelets are automatically converted to use Cloudlet+Shadowlet.

Streaklet (new to version 2.0)

A Streaklet is a long-exposure light painting effect. You can create some really interesting animations with Streaklet, check out the long-exposure effect on the Streaklet type page.

Cloudlet |  | Streaklet's 'Light Exposure effect'

Sprite

The Sprite particle is a custom layer loaded into Particular. You need to select a custom layer, called a 'texture', for the Sprite. Do this by going into the Particle group> Texture subgroup and choose the layer in the Layer popup. The layer can be a still image or an animated movie.

Sprites always orient towards the camera. This is very useful in some cases. However, in other cases you won't want the layer to orient to the camera, but instead would prefer it to behave like a regular 3D layer. This is why the new Textured Polygon type was developed.

When you first apply Sprite, you won't see anything appear. This is because Sprite needs a layer to sample from. In our example below, Sprite is using a crescent-shaped grayscale image.

Version 1.5 Note: The Sprite particle was previously called Custom Layer. The Texture group was previously the Custom Layer group. We changed the names and added some features.

Sprite |  | Layer image

Textured Polygon (new to version 2.0)

The Textured Polygon also uses a custom layer loaded into Particular, which can be a still image or an animated movie. While Sprites types face the 3D camera and don't move independently, Textured Polygons are objects with their own independent 3D rotation and space.

The Textured Polygon doesn't orient to the After Effects 3D camera. Instead you can see the particles from different directions and from all sides, and you can see their thickness change when rotated. Textured Polygon has controls for rotation and rotational speed on all three spatial axes. It will "stay put" when you orbit the camera around it. This particle type acts more like a regular 3D layer.

When you first apply Textured Polygon, you won't see anything appear. This is because Textured Polygon needs a layer to sample from. In our example below, Textured is using a triangle-shaped image.

Textured Polygon |  | Layer image

Sprite Colorize, Texture Polygon Colorize

Colorize is a colorizing mode that uses lightness values to color the particles.

Sprite Fill, Texture Polygon Fill

Fill is also a colorizing mode. This mode only fills the alpha channel of the particles with color.

Sprite Colorize |  | Textured Polygon Fill